overheated board- base grind?

[redriver]

Hey folks- New-ish hardbooter here with a problem. After reading and listening as much as I could on the subject, I tried to hot wax my new board the other day and I'm sick. During waxing with a seriously hard wax, I guess I turned the iron up too high and raised a couple of quarter-sized bumps on the base. Will a base grind take care of this and return my pride back to factory fresh, and should I leave my new baby to the pros?

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Bummer, yep, when using a hard , extreme or "Extreme" wax, one must be careful not to overheat the base.

Do not base grind it before you address the "Bubble". Or you will just grind it off and leave a hole in the base. Best to use a needle/ expoxy and clamp it back down. In otherwords take it to a pro and ask them to inspect it and recommend a repair. I don't know your skill level , so please don't be offended by the recommendation. It is not really hard to do , just needs to be done carefully .

Other "Hot Tips" , If the wax is smoking? Too hot. Pretty hard to avoid all smoking of the wax due to the poor regulation of most irons. The key is to make sure you are ready to transfer the heat out of the iron as it is heating, then turn it off and shed the heat into the board prior to taking it off the surface of the board.

Place your hand under the board to see if it is getting warm. If it is warm clear through, then that is plenty. Tips and Tails are thinner, WATCH OUT! that is the most common area to over heat.

My guess is you will be able to get it back to close to perfect.

Not likely you will let it happen again.

Lots of good sites with excellent tuning info. Prior for just one. Google "Ski Tuning" or Snowboard Tuning" for thousands of links.

Good luck. Done worse!!

[redriver]

I found one old thread on a similar issue that also mentioned the air bubble problem, so sounds like it's not just a grind but more work involved at the shop. I'm bummed, but I've done worse too and I appreciate your encouragement. Stuff's too expensive to ruin from ignorance, and "the more I know, the less I understand..." (Henley)

[Fleaman]

I did the same on my old Rossi Alpine, I rode it with the bumps in it for about 4 years before retiring the board. It just took some creative scraping to get around them.

You could use the needle epoxy trick and clamp the bubbles in a vise or a deep throat (I said it!) Clamp.

or you could (not recommended) heat the rest of your base up until it is all raised up like the few bumps you have now. Bwaaaaaaaaa

[Mr.E]

I agree with OS in concept, but have to be leery. Most "pros" aren't. If you are mechanically inclined, have a modestly steady hand, and are willing to do some homework, I suggest learning enough to work on your own kit. There are a few folks in the country i'll hand gear over to, but generally have seen enough horror shows that I'm skeptical of "shop tunes". Maybe just the cynic in me, but squirting glue is something I'd rather do myself.

Edit: I'm no master shop hand either, but I know what t expect from my work, and know when to stop if I'm getting in over my head, which hasn't happened yet.

[Rob Stevens]

Sometimes, you can wind up having the base shrink from being too hot.

Put a ruler or true bar across it, from edge to edge and see if it is now "railed" or edge high.

If it is, start grinding.

[Pow]

Often I find that the smaller local shops are more careful with my gear than the bigger shops. You hand them gear, tell them "it's expensive, and ill know if you f*** it up" the little guys get cautious, the big guys don't care too much. If you hand it to a pro I'd suggest give it to an experienced pro in a small shop. Then again, im pretty sure my experience with shops is fairly limited compared to most of the members here so somebody back me up or shoot me down:)

[wavechaser]

Give Mike DeSantis a call at PTC and see what he says about your damage.

Phone: (508) 875-5551

Avoid iron temps over 250 degrees, and when using hard "cold" wax - put "fiberlene paper" between the iron and the base.

http://www.reliableracing.com/detail.cfm?edp=10730430&category=2500#

And use a good waxing iron - this Swix iron even has a clip for the fiberlene paper, comes with a bunch of wax, and is fairly affordable:

http://www.reliableracing.com/detail.cfm?edp=10920379&category=2200

[dirk109]

If you live in the NE, Stop by the Startingate in Bondville VT. Some of the best tunes and fastest grinds are currently coming out of that shop.

802-297-1213